Summary Week Ended Friday 29th August 2014

 

8 Stock Trades:

6 AAL + 87.28 BPS
2 BLT + 38.69 BPS

6 long trades: + 108.25 BPS.
2 short trades: + 17.72 BPS.

Stocks net  + 125.97 BPS

6 intraday trades, 2 overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 1.33 % net.
P:L ratio was N/A (no losing trades).

No Index trades.

Thoughts

A shortened week, due to the bank holiday. Markets were volatile with events in Ukraine. Seems like there was an new announcment from the Ukraine/Moscow every few minutes throughout the trading day.

All in all, a very tough week, and I am very glad that it's Friday afternoon.
Well below my 2.5% benchmark.

August has been a difficult month, the breakdown of trades was as follows:

AAL was by far the most frequently traded strock again, accounting for 68% of trades. I made some very poor trade exits, especially on the short side, where I scalped a couple of points before the stock tumbled sharply.
I have rather neglected the banks this month, with not a single trade in BARC. Hopefully next month will provide more opportunities.

Changes on stocks for the month of August:

SBRY was sharply lower today after a profit warning from Tesco.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 22nd August 2014

 

17 Stock Trades:

14 AAL + 244.11 BPS
3 BLT + 22.84 BPS

13 long trades: + 253.83 BPS.
4 short trades: + 13.12 BPS.
Stocks net  + 266.94 BPS

15 intraday trades, 2 overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 4.24 % net.
P:L ratio was N/A (no losing trades).

No Index trades.

Thoughts

A better week.


Scalped a few points on AAL, despite some poor exits. Not bad considering AAL is more or less flat on the week at the moment (Friday morning). Again, it's all about exits.

AAL has been trading in a nice range recently, although I don't know how long this will last. I do find it hard to fathom the reasoning behind the buying near or at obvious resistance and the selling near support, but it takes all sorts to make a market I suppose.

My normal multi - timeframe chart setup for AAL:

Well above my 2.5% weekly target.

August is proving to be a tough month, and I have beaten my 2.5% benchmark in only two weeks of the last four. At least we have some volatility in the equity markets.

Stock changes for the week:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 15th August 2014

 

12 Stock Trades:

11 AAL + 126.31 BPS
1 BLT + 4.96 BPS

8 long trades: + 102.02 BPS.
2 short trades: + 30.24 BPS.

Stocks net  + 131.27 BPS

10 intraday trades, 2 overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 1.67 % net.
P:L ratio was 28:1.

No Index trades.

Thoughts

Another difficult week.
I struggled to find decent opportunities.

Markets were strong, although there was a sell off late on Friday on some Russian/Ukrainian news.

Stock changes for the week:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

 

Summary Week Ended Friday 8th August 2014

 

20 Stock Trades:

7 AAL + 72.87 BPS
1 BLT + 4.97 BPS
4 BP + 51.92 BPS
2 HSBA + 58.12 BPS
2 SBRY + 62.20 BPS
4 STAN + 30.51 BPS

17 long trades: + 203.68 BPS.
3 short trades: + 76.91 BPS.

Stocks net  + 280.59 BPS

19 intraday trades, 1 overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 3.28 % net.
P:L ratio was 24.11:1.

No Index trades.

Thoughts

Another difficult week. Markets were volatile once again, with events in Ukraine and Iraq making the news headlines.

I had to scalp what I could. Rallies were sold off pretty quickly this week. The FTSE made a new 30 day low on Friday morning, before staging a bit of a rally. Most stocks on my list still well down over the course of five days.
Still above my 2.5% benchmark for the week.

Made a few very poor exits, especially on STAN after the results on Wednesday. Missed some excellent shorting opportunities. Another week when exit levels were all important.

August is definitely turning out to be tougher than the last few months have been, at least for my style of trading.

Stock changes for the week:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

 

Summary Week Ended Friday 1st August 2014

 

18 Stock Trades:

9 AAL + 145.70 BPS
2 BARC - 190.10 BPS
4 BP + 66.36 BPS
2 SBRY + 24.31 BPS
1 STAN + 34.02 BPS

Stocks net  + 80.31 BPS

17 long trades: + 46.30 BPS.
1 short trades: + 34.02 BPS.
16 intraday trades, 2 overnight trades.


I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 0.45 % net.
P:L ratio was 1.14:1.


No Index trades.

Thoughts

A poor week's trading. I held onto a BARC long, sold it early into the rally on Wednesday morning, a poor entry and poor exit, although it could have been a lot worse.

Thursday and Friday saw a lot of volatility after the sell off in New York, prior to the US payrolls data release on Friday.

I caught a few moves on AAL and BP.

Short of my 2.5% benchmark.
Still well positive for the month of July, which is something I suppose.

Trade breakdown for July 2014:

Watch list stock changes on the week:

Hoping for a better week next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.